Ducati Desert Sled Off Road Review 

Finally a offroad review by someone who can actually ride offroad. All the reviews of the new triumph are done by journalists that can't properly ride the thing offroad.

I like Chris! He's got a nice style in front of the camera.

That guy presenting the off road segment is one of my favourite off road reviewers. Awesome rider!

Jesus give Chris a fulltime review gig he is a natural.

That lad can ride. Reminded me of Steve McQueen in The Great Escape.

The young man in Wales gave an absolutely bang-on review! Knows his shit!!! 👍

Chris is likeable and relatable. That's rare now-a-days in bike reviews.

Great job there! As often said, offroad 80% is the rider the rest is the bike. This is actually true probably only for the "proper" offroad bikes but still, give the average joe this Ducati and on such trails you'd see a very, very different video... 😂 That said I believe nobody expects the scrambler to turn Mr. "I take the bike to a spin to the corner pub" into Cairoli or Jarvis, and is nice to see though that if you k ow how to ride it you can have some real fun on this one. Great proper review. Thank you

I'm knocking on 58, I'm 5'6 (hence why I've fitted the low seat) and weigh 14 stone. I've got one of the Black Editions with the high level Termignoni 2-into-1 pipe and ride on and off road in the Scottish Highlands and it's an absolute blast, especially on fast fire roads, but it can do the slow 'trials' like stuff too. I'm no Toni Bou or Graham Jarvis but this thing never ceases to amaze me! I've been riding motocross, enduro, trials and road bikes all my life but this is the best 'hybrid' I've been on so far. By far.

Love it but will you please do a back to back with the triumph scrambler 1200 at some point. You have too!!!

Couldn’t agree more. This video has just made me love my scrambler more than I already do. 😁

Another top notch review and some excellent riding skills. So far the most I’ve taken mine off road is over some grassy fields and a dirt track. Great to ride on the roads though the saddle gets sore after about 2.5 hours

Yes, Yamaha should build an updated XT! Japan is really missing the boat, when it comes to scramblers, and dual purpose bikes.

This guy does awesome reviews, I can't recall the last one I seen him do....new GSXR 1000 possibly?? But that also was a great review, he needs to do more!! Haha.

Bikes like Tenere 700 are pig heavy, yet RU-vidrs call it light and proper offroader, yet they call the desert sled heavy!!!! I don't know anymore if we should give them any credence.

Looks like an XT550 to me!

Always approach the bike from the left side, mate! You won't have any of those, "struggle to get the leg over the seat" moments. ; )

All true but i have to say in Thailand we do trails like this on a Honda wave 110i too no problem. Always baffles me with millennials when they review if this or that modern scrambler can go offroad, as you can go offroad with a lambretta if you are used to it

Awsome video! I didn´t expect the offroad-rampage at all! Loved it! Brilliant approach!

Yamaha is missing the boat bring back a modern xt500 half the price of this Ducati will sell all over the world.

If something should be censored on youtube it should be at 3:42 ;) what great footage!!!!

Damn, those riding skills!

Love this bike,I ride a XR650l Honda it’s heavy and a bit taller than I like and even uncorked its very low on power, but it is a blast for me in the dirt with 12” of ground clearance it’s great in the woods as well,I had to change the sprockets to 14-49 but that killed its highway speeds quite a bit

I didn't know jensen button did bikes lol

I would love to know about those who gave this a 'thumbs-down'. Are they just anti-Ducati and or puritanical about what an off road bike should be or are they mainly wives who are cheesed off about their husband's preference of the bike to them? Taking my test next year. What with now being single and at 51 having an evolving mid-life-crisis I will be set to hopefully get the D.Sled or the Scrambler. I did have a MASH copy of the Scrambler, the MASH Falcone 125. Sadly it kept vibrating itself to bits until someone put it out of its misery - by ramming it from behind. It was very pretty.

He rides bikes and does bike reviews but gets on a bike the wrong way opposite the kickstand? But the guy who rode it off-road was the perfect kind of guy to review it.Far too many times people review off-road bikes aren't actual off roaders.Great review of a great looking bike!

This guy should join the X-Games

Makes a pretty convincing case cafe and off-road mans. Sort of thing I enjoyed doing on my '82 Tiger trail and R80GS- though the Ducati looks very agile. Good company for a Panigale.

Nice review. But well done for not spending 4 hours plugging the channel getting me to subscribe to something. Refreshing.

What if on Friday you can take the dirt road home from work!!! What a feeling that would be !!!

Α great review!!

Absolutely fabulous review. Actually makes me consider a Ducati in my stable for the first time EVER! Thanks for posting.

Best review for this model. This video was partially the reason I just purchased this same bike.

I'm hoping you guys can throw in a comparo against the Husqvarna 701 supermoto which has similar amounts of power and somewhat similar in purpose. I think the desert sled is great though, only thing holding it back is maybe the size of the fuel tank

In regard to standing ergonomics, my complaints as a Sled owner are; the upper mounting bolt on the rear shock bothers my inner thigh, and the foot pegs are a little slippery, as stated in the video. The foot pegs should be a little bit longer and have slightly more aggressive teeth (one could sharpen the teeth easily). The shock bolt could be designed to protrude less into my leg's area. I only make contact with the shock bolt while standing up on the pegs, but it does become uncomfortable, after a short time. It fits my needs very well. I'll continue with other comments. I wish it had a little bit more fuel capacity... It would be nice to have about 5-10 more horsepower, for highway riding. (Everyone enjoys more power, and I do like the power delivery, overall. If it had a little bit more on the big end, I would give it 10/10 for the engine.) All of that being considered, I enjoy the bike immensely. The front end is a little heavier than I expected, and it does take an earnest effort to get it into a balanced wheelie position. You'll have to do some clutch work and use body english to get the front end up. It's a smile factory as a rider. It handles like a dirt bike after 10 mph. At low speeds you can feel the weight, but it feels very light at any speed above that. The steering may be too light, if you expect to spend much time cruising on the interstate. It takes almost no effort to change course at highway speeds, so you may feel unstable with crosswinds and passing traffic. It's easy to manage, but it's not "cruiser-stable". The suspension is not perfect, but the adjustable settings make a very noticeable difference, allowing you to get it dialed in closer to your desires. It's not good at taking large bumps. It wants to bulk up a little. Likewise, it seems very soft until you hit a pothole, and then it wants to jar you. Must be something in the high speed compression dampening, and partly due to the limited travel. After all, it is not a motocross bike. It feels confident on gravel roads and poorly maintained back roads, but the big bumps do seem to come as a surprise, initially. I do get many compliments on the looks, coming from people in traffic, at the store, gas station, or a biker bar. Harley guys in Tennessee stare at it for a half hour while they ask questions, and assume that it is fast. It's my favorite bike, so far. I highly recommend it.

Love mine. I feel it’s a great all around bike. Pretty competent off road out of the box, suspension changes are effective and intuitive, And this bike really handles on road. Engine is fantastic if you’re not looking for an absolute rocket. Great character and people love to look at it at gatherings. Very attractive!

Great review by an obviously competent and objective reviewer. I've had my DS for eight months now and I'm thrilled with it and agree totally with the reviewer. It's an amazingly versatile bike and a real hoot to ride!

Best review of the sled yet, glad to see it can actually go off road OK. Looks quite chuckable too.

I'm riding a '15 Scrambler Ducati Icon, which I'm VERY happy with, in California and I must say your excellent vid features the wettest damn desert I've ever seen!

You got a Ducati dirty! You;ll get a Bike Shed ban if you're not careful!

Finally a revieuwer that comments on the ergonomics of the bike WHEN STANDING UP. The only position that truly matters off road.

Now this how drive a Ducati: offroad, against nature. Ducati is from Bologna, my city and the climatic and road condition are usally the same He drove with the Desert Slide in this video.

I'm the same height as Chris and yeah I can get one solid foot down, but this desert sled owner that walked me around the bike at the dealership I bought mine at was only 5' 3" lol

hipster head . outstanding remark the urban hipster soy boy bike ... the duck scrambler café bike '' has to be the smartest trick played on the urban café cunts '' scrambler café racer '' /// WHAT //

hipster bike

Great video that shows how capable the Scrambler is. Would love to see it compared to the new 1200 Triumph offroad!

İt's an absolutely fantastic bike. So much better than the little one. You might also want to mention henry crew doing the whole around the world thing.

Probably one of my favourite video's, especially when that Triumph Thruxton R appears around the 2:14 mark, at The Bike Shed.... (My new Shoei looks so cool!!!) 😁

nice review, but i think my white version if better looking than the black one ^^

thanks to the chap blasting round the forest, that's my mind made up. I saw another review, which made me wonder just how much off road you can do on this bike and this review proves, you can do all the fire tracks there are and a few lumpy sections to and then it's back on the road for a cruise home. Nice review. It's a no to the R nine t and a big yes to the Ducati.

Finally! The review I've been waiting for!

Isn't it too heavy for mere mortals to go off-road - people who don't have Chris's top level skills?

Test rode one recently. Very impressive. Geared well lower than the 797 i also rode. Went for the M797 but prefered the DS.

How does it compare to the big adventure bikes off road? Or on long tours?

Cool as Fook

If I had a Ducati I would never take it to off road

This was an awesome review! The only thing that puts me off ducati bikes is having those bloody belts. I need to look into how often they need looking at and how much it costs.

Great video! Very informative and well edited! So happy you addressed the weight and have put it straight.

Finally a company makes a scrambler that can actually fucking go offroad or make small jumps

It's all good until you drop it and fuck that paint up. The new Yamaha T7 will be a better but and it can take a crash or 2

Were you struggling with the rearward footpeg placement?

Mega bike, superb ergonomics for my 70kg & 5ft 9” having great fun on some green lanes and also great on the road

Any thoughts around the low exhausts ? Just seems odd they put the. So low when most others have them high obvious reasons

Great review by someone who knows and shows his stuff.

Chris Northover is such a dude!

Looks like a really fun bike, too bad it still has the maintenance schedule of a Ducati from 20 years ago. Expect about 1000$ in maintenance every 12000km (excluding tires). Nota big deal if you ride 5000km/year, but if you ride 25-30000km a year, this might not be your best option. I know I'm going for the Scrambler 1200 XE :)

Absolutely awesome Video 👌 with a great BIKE 😎

Thanks, awesome review.

Kinda selling me on the sled but the ktm 890 adventure r has my attention as well.

You UK guys have ridiculous license plates.

Great review guys,thank you!

The black with colors looks cool but in summertime I bet it’s even more hot than the white version

"The last thing you want to do is ride a 300cc two-stroke 200 miles across the country..." Ah, now that is where you are wrong! I would gladly cover that kind of distance on a big two-stroke. Just probably not a new one that's geared for 60mph. Something like a Kawasaki 350 Bighorn or a Yamaha 360 Enduro will absolutely chew up the road miles, is extremely capable off-road, and comes with a 100% guarantee to steal ALL attention from everything else at the coffee shop. Those old Enduro bikes put the lie to the modern notion that nothing can exist between 500lb street hippo scramblers, and high-strung near-motocross bikes suspended for Evel Knievel jumps. If someone made a new bike in that spirit, they'd print infinite money.

Man I just can't decide what bike to get for what I want to do

Thanks John & team for this and all the great vids in 2018. Merry Christmas to you! Cheers.

Loved the slow motion edits!

Is that where Robin Hood and his merry men live?

My sled is my most prized possession. Perfection, period.

Great show, and great reviews, John and Chris well done and keep up great work. 🏍️👏

I love this one beybe

イケメン

Great review fellas. And I say this as someone who’s had a big spliff 😎

I tried a 800cc Monster last year with similar engine. Poor. No power under 3000 rpm, no power feeling at high rpms. Feels smooth and weak. No emotions. Monster is also a very short bike, not for adults. I liked the new Ducatis til i rode one. My KTM and BMW is much better.

Did he say 800cc with 73 hp? Or 173? Its 425 lb bike. A KTM 450 would eat that up on the road don't even mention dirt. Why is the 800 cc engine not putting out more power?

You dont need a Sled to do that, my Icon is fine too. xD

love the the guy in the offroad segment! seems sound

Great review! I may buy a Desert Sled in the future. Such a beautiful bike and would suit my riding perfectly!! Thanks. Much appreciated!!!

lolol...copy of BMW R9T Urban GS

113 dislike they have an electric bike.....

170 kg dry is a pretty good weight to be honest. i thought, if he mentions it, maybe its over 200 kg, which would be far away from acceptable. But that weight should be expected from a big like this The bigger 1100cc is 19 kg more and even thats not half bad, isnt it?

I REALLY love this retro black + red/orange/yellow stripes on it. I wish this bike was cheaper; I think I will need to go with a Yamaha Tenere 700 instead.

Great stuff...good review....great riding skills!. The trouble is we are spoilt for choice, especially now the new Triumph is out there and looking good. Test rode the Desert Sled...loved it, but it's on my 'wait and see what the Triumph's like' list! . One of the joys of a 'scrambler ' type bike with real off road capabilities is the plush suspension ...when you ride a so called scrambler and the first bump/hump/ or jump jars your spine it all feels a bit fake!. Cheers, Steve

The way you rid that Sled...Crazy Man...Fucking Awesome!!!

I wonder how the Desert Sled would compare off-road to the BMW 850GS or 1250GS and its sister Ducati 950 Multistrada.

Your input. That 800cc vs the 1100cc.

This channel is getting better all the time

It's a shame you can't own one without being called a *Millenial Hipster HurrDurr* as it is genuinely a good bike

i dont give a shit what bike it is just another bullshit con from Ducati, why to expensive id rather an asian everyday of the week that that shit..

Under the seat are they the pillion grab handles?

Cool Bike but I like the awesome Power of the Indian FTR 1200 that will makes fools out of Harleys too ..